The petitioners demand that Sha’Carri Richardson be allowed to participate in the Olympic Games despite a positive THC test

Almost half a million people have signed a petition calling on the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to reverse its decision to suspend Sha’Carri Richardson from the US Olympic team.

Last Friday, USADA announced that Richardson had been suspended from the U.S. Olympic team for 30 days for testing positive for THC. At last month’s Olympic Trials, the 21-year-old runner won the 100-meter run in just 10.86 seconds, but those results were cleared after her failed drug test. The athlete now loses her chance of the 100-meter run at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where she had good chances of winning.

In a recent interview, Richardson stated that she used cannabis to deal with her mother’s recent death. “I was definitely triggered and blinded by emotion, blinded by bad and hurting and hiding hurt,” she told NBC. “I know I can’t hide, so I kind of tried to hide my pain.”

The drug test confirmed that Richardson did not use cannabis immediately prior to entering one of their competitions. Separately, USADA officials decided that she should be banned from the Olympic team for 90 days. That suspension was reduced to 30 days after Richardson agreed to undertake a counseling program so she may be able to participate in the women’s Olympic relays later this summer.

“Although a growing number of athletes have reported using cannabis and its ingredients as an alternative to certain prescription drugs (e.g. in a statement.

“Unfortunately, conventional drug screening can only determine the presence of marijuana in the past – which can indicate exposure a few days, weeks, or even months in advance,” explained Armentano. “In other words, these tests are more about identifying those who may choose to use cannabis in their spare time to relax, rather than identifying athletes looking for an unfair competitive advantage.”

Outrage over Richardson’s suspension has grown throughout the weekend, and the MoveOn organization immediately launched a petition urging USADA to lift the ban. Within two days, the petition almost reached its goal of collecting 500,000 signatures.

“Sha’Carri Richardson is one of the fastest athletes in the world – and has a real chance this month of winning the 100-meter sprint at the Summer Olympics,” says the petition. “However, an outdated and arbitrarily enforced rule surrounding marijuana is now preventing her from competing on the world stage. There is no world in which marijuana is a performance-enhancing drug for runners, and marijuana use is legal in more places in the United States and around the world. “

It’s unclear whether the strong wave of support for Richardson will convince USADA to lift its suspension, but it could well inspire the agency to rethink its unnecessarily extreme cannabis policies. In a recent interview, President Biden indicated that while he stood by the agency’s existing rules, he believed those rules might change in the future.

“The rules are the rules and everyone knows what the rules are,” Biden told reporters, Marijuana Moment reports. “Whether they should remain the rules is another question, but the rules are the rules.” The president also said he was “really proud” of the way Richardson responded to news of the suspension.